Update: Rock Hill Fire 70% contained

Update 2 p.m.: The Rock Hill Fire has grown to 2,208 acres, but is now 70-percent contained, and full containment is expected by early Friday morning, fire managers said in the latest news release.

Firefighters continue to monitor containment and mop-up along the fire perimeter and any areas with high, visible smoking materials, the news release said. Level 1 and Level 2 evacuation advisories remain in effect for the fire’s immediate area. The cause is still undetermined, but an investigation continues.

NCW — The Rock Hill Fire near McNeil Canyon has grown to 1,500 acres, but is 40 percent contained with full containment is expected by Friday.

Reported just before 8 p.m. Sunday, the fire blew up quickly over the first 300 acres, burning two mobile homes and damaging eight outbuildings, fire spokesman Ron Fryer said this morning.

No injuries have been reported.

The cause is still under investigation.

Hot weather, combined with winds expected tomorrow, have firefighters working for more containment, Fryer said.

“The crews are working very hard. We’re in pretty good shape right now,” he said.

About 200 firefighters are on the blaze, including five strike teams from outside the area, four helicopters, one airplane and three hand crews, Fryer said.

The fire started about three miles north of McNeil Canyon, in the area of Road 20 NW and Road D NW, on a private road called Rock Hill Road, he said. Some 75 homes in McNeil Canyon were threatened but not evacuated.

An inter-agency team took over management of the fire Monday morning for the Bureau of Land Management and Douglas County Fire District 5.

Here’s a look at fires around NCW since July 4:

Banks Lake

More than 100 campers in the Barker Canyon area were evacuated following a fireworks-caused fire that burned about 12 acres Saturday night. Other campers in the area brought boats over to help with evacuations. No one was injured, nor property lost. Blaze was reported at 10:30 p.m.

East of Chief Joseph Dam

A few homes were threatened but none lost in this 110-acre blaze, reported at 3:30 p.m. About 25 firefighters, a helicopter and a bulldozer gained control of that fire.

Grand Coulee

About a half-acre fire near Crown Point Sunday was caused by someone shooting a rifle.

Cashmere

A small brush fire just east of Cashmere closed Highway 2/97 for about 30 minutes Sunday. The fire, reported at 8 p.m., burned along a narrow strip of land between the highway and Mt. Stuart Road. Firefighters held the fire to less than one acre. One home was threatened but not damaged. The cause has not been determined.

Cashmere Captain Jeremy Burns said the fire could have spread farther and more dangerously were it not for a homeowner on the 5300 block of Mt. Stuart Road that turned on his overhead sprinklers along a row of tall Poplar trees.

Reach Christine Pratt at 509-665-1173 or (javascript required to see email). Follow her on Twitter at @CPrattWW.